Wisconsin Dells , Wi. walleye bite ! 2/18/10

We went to the wisconsin river at the town of Wisconsin Dells on the 18th of Feb. We launched our boat at the Rivers Edge resort just on the edge of town and right on the river. Great place to put in at and a bait shop right there as well. The river has been open the last few weeks and we were told the bite was on. Got the boat in at 9 am and up the river we went .

The winds were low and the barometer was steady for the day. The sun felt good with the cold temps starting out at 26 degrees this mourning. We started out on some flats with some good humps for the fish to hide behind from the current. We were using hair jigs with white head and purple and white hair without minnows. We also used 1/4 once lindy rigs tipped with fat head minnows. The lindy rigs had different color beads on the lines for added color in the stained water of the wisconsin and we were surprised by how clear the water was yet. There were no gates open at the dam yet.

The first drift was a good sign of how the day was going to go for us. We drifted 2 different flats of the river and had 2 eyes and 1 sauger in the live well. One was caught on a purple hair jig with no minnow and the other 2 were on the lindy rigs. The technique we were using for the jigs was just gently sliding the jig on the bottom early in the day. Some of the fish for the day would have the hair jigs completly swallowed down . With the lindy rigs most of the fish you had to give them a little line for them to take the bait to set the hook them. The bite was pretty consistant through out the day for us. We swicthed to yellow & orange and also white and orange for the hair jigs to intice some more eyes for the day. When the fish seemed to turn on better we stayed more verticle with the jigs with faster results.

The wisconsin river has a slot size limit in this area with 20" walleyes up to 28" has to be released and between 15" and 20" inch can be kept and a big fish has to over 28 inch to keep. This slot limit has turned the river into a better fishery than ever in my opion. We kept 5 walleyes and 1 sauger for a couple of meals for us which were 15 to 18 inches long and all other fish were released. We even caught 3 sturgens as well for the day.

From Jeff.